Miserable concrete garden!

As you say, containers are easy to move around. However, given the small space available, weeds shouldn't be an issue. I just think that only using containers is limiting, and prone to more maintenance, not less.

 

I don't find them to be a problem really. More watering, obviously, but less weeds and easier to weed. Also feeding is more direct. Another advantage I find is that I pay more attention to the individual plants so notice any pests or problems before they get too out of hand. I would say my plants in pots actually do better than the ones in my borders.

 

Here's a few pics I got off the internet to give you some ideas.

 

Catztail your patio looks lush

I've got more stuff in planters than I have in borders. Yes they need more tlc (and if you go away then you'll need someone to water them) but you can move them about and they make otherwise dull spaces look great I've got stuff like Camellias, Rhododendrons, Azaleas (which all like shade) to Roses and Lilac (which like sun). If you're going to go for that option then it would be a good idea to have some evergreen shrubs so that the garden doesn't look totally dead in winter.

To give a bit of height you could put climbers in planters (using an obelisk or trellis).

Re the concrete itself, if you can afford it then I'd pull it up and put some nice paving down. If not decking over the top is an idea (not a fan myself but it's better than concrete).

If you want to go with the gravel idea, then you could put a 'lip' before you get to the gate so the last bit is still concrete. That would keep the gravel to your preferred area

 

I think using raised beds seems to be a "get out of jail free card" for more and more problems that won't take that much time to fix. Sticking raised beds on top of concrete as Freddy said is a bad idea. Either remove the concrete under where you want to stick your beds or remove the whole lot.

Personally as it's such a small space it wouldn't be much more trouble to remove the lot instead of removing enough to open the ground up for some raised beds. Raised beds may be your only option though as the soil under the concrete is probably severely compacted and not very fertile. If you do decide to take the concrete up completely, check your land registry plans for your property for any drains, gas or water pipes running under the garden.

 

Just to add my twopenn'oth - whatever you decide to do about the concrete, I certainly wouldn't use decking for the 'walkway(s)' - it gets slippery in the wet, lethal in freezing weather, since you can't see that very fine layer of ice or frost on it; it's possible it could end up looking like duckboards or, (as in the case of painting one wall of a small room in a dark contrasting colour to the other 3), could actually make a small area look even smaller.

If you haven't already done so, I'd draw out a scale plan of your garden, marking out (as Jungle Jane has said), the location of any pipes and/or manhole covers (which you're not allowed to permanently obstruct), then, on pieces of tracing paper, play around with the shape of the 'hard landscaping' (to get some ideas, there's bound to be books in the library you can peruse or try putting 'courtyard garden ideas' or 'ideas for landscaping a courtyard garden' into Google and select 'images'), decided on the overall look you like and, once you've done that and got the basic 'framework' in place, then start thinking about what to plant and where.